BUDAPEST, THE BEST

Budapest, the city so nice we went there twice. The charm of Budapest stems from its moderately small tourism trade – there are visitors but it’s not over-run with them, like Prague is for example. Even when you visit the tourist hot spots, they are still relatively calm. The city is divided into two parts, with the river Danube separating the BUDA side from the PEST side. The Pest side is where all the action is – we stayed in five different hostels, four of them were on the Pest side and only one, the most inconvenient one, was on the Buda side. Budapest (pronounced Budapesht, by the way) has a thriving bar scene, some beautiful architecture, excellent restaurants and some pretty wicked sites to see. Budapest also has an excellent public transport system, including their underground system, which - fun fact- was the first one in the world.

Tourism hot spots include St Stephens Basilica, the thermal spas (we visited the Széchenyi spa), the beautifully ornate parliamentary buildings, Buda Castle, and many more. There is so much to do in this lovely city. To get a great introduction to the city, I recommend this walking tour.
 

 

Budapest's famous thermal spa, the Széchenyi spa. Yes it's as weird as it looks.

A highlight for me was trekking to the top of Gellert Hill, just across the river on the Buda side with a few friends, a few bottles of wine and settling in to watch the sun set and the city light up. Budapest is arguably at it’s most beautiful at night- its simply incredible.

Budapest has a banging food scene, with many excellent establishments offering anything from traditional Hungarian food such as paprika infused everything, their own take on goulash, and a fusion combination of the surrounding countries' culinary delights. There are numerous new places springing up, with many international cuisines becoming popular. A highlight on our adventures was the Karavan Street Food, which is an outdoor food truck set up with a heap of different options, including the Hungarian drunk food speciality 'langos'. Langos is essentially a deep friend pizza base, with whatever topping you want, such as ham and cheese. They are equal parts insanely unhealthy and delicious.

 

 

 

Other places we tried and loved included My Little Melbourne for the best coffee (because, Straya), Rosa Gelato for the most beautiful icecream money can buy, the market hall for whatever you can eat (it wanders onto the over-priced tourist side, but you have to go!). Bors Gastrobar has the best sandwiches and soups, and the nicest staff. For a cheap day out, taking advantage of the super cheap supermarkets and heading to Margaret Island for a picnic is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.

 

 

Budapest also has a rad bar scene - they have a ton of bars all over town, including the Jewish district which houses the famous ruin bars. The ruin bars, including Szimpla all feel a little bit touristy, but its part of their appeal. Drinks are a little on the expensive side (for Budapest, a beer will roughly cost you $4aud). Deak ferenc is a wicked outdoor bar in the centre of the city which is also worth a night out!

 St Stephan's Basilica in the rain...

Wine at Szimpla Ruin Bar.

 

 

 

If I haven't convinced you to go yet, I'd like to just comment and say that Budapest is one of my personal favourite European cities - and Nick's. It's cheap as hell for Europe, and is so much fun.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Love, Olivia